How to Root U.S. and Canada Galaxy S3 AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint/US Ceullar! [Fail-Proof][Noob-Proof]

If your Galaxy S3 model started with SGH-T999, SGH-I747, or SPH-L710, you can follow this step-by-step guide and root your phone within about 5 minutes. No, this will not erase any apps or settings on your phone and does not affect your phone in any way other than install ClockworkMod Recovery and give you root. (So if you have problems after rooting, don’t just assume it’s from rooting, it’s not.)

Works for all Gingerbread, Android 4.0.3/4.0.4 ICS, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and Android 4.4.2 KitKat! (For 4.3 and 4.4.2 please use the other SuperSU zip provided in Step 3.)

For Android 4.3 or 4.4.2 KitKat, you can also use Towelroot, which does not require a computer!

UPDATE: Users have verified this root method also works for U.S. Cellular Galaxy S3, BootMobile.

If you have an international Galaxy S3 (non U.S. and Canada) with model number starting with GT-i9300, DO NOT FOLLOW THIS GUIDE but see How to Root Galaxy S3! instead.

Step 3. Copy SuperUser.zip in the unzipped folder to anywhere on your phone’s internal storage. This is the file that gives your phone root and SuperSU app when you flash it in ClockworkMod Recovery. We will use this file later on so note where you copied this file to on your phone.

Step 8. Double-click on Odin3 v1.85.exe to run the ODIN program. This ODIN program allows you to flash ClockworkMod Recovery into the recovery partition on your phone.

*Note – You can also use ODIN program to flash kernels, stock ROMs, and more.

Step 9. Click on “PDA” and choose “RecoveryGalaxyS3USCanada.tar”.

Step 10. You should see a yellow highlighted box with a COM and random number. If you don’t, download and install Samsung Kies. After installation, DO NOT RUN Samsung Kies. We are only installing Samsung Kies which will automatically install drivers for your Galaxy S3. After installing Samsung Kies, simply unplug and plug your phone back to your computer, you should see the yellow highlighted box now.

Next, un-check “Auto-Reboot”.

Step 11. Hit the “Start” button. In about 5 seconds, the ClockworkMod Recovery should be flashed and you should see a green box with “PASS!” on it like shown below.

Step 12. Take the battery out of your Galaxy S3. This is because newer stock software updates overwrite your Custom Recovery upon reboot. We can get away from losing our newly-flashed custom recovery (ClockworkMod Recovery) simply pulling the battery out and booting straight into our new custom recovery.

Step 13. Put the battery back in and immediately hold down Volume Up, Center Home, and Power buttons together.

Step 14. Keep holding down Volume Up and Center Home buttons while letting go of the Power button after 2 seconds.

Step 15. Once in ClockworkMod Recovery, use the Volume buttons to choose “install zip from sdcard” then hit the Power button to select. (Same thing from here on.)

Step 16. Next choose “choose zip from internal sdcard”.

Step 17. Next choose “SuperUser.zip”.

Step 18. Next choose “Yes – Install SuperUser.zip”.

Step 19. You should get “Install from sdcard complete” message.

Step 20. Choose “+++++Go Back+++++”.

Step 21. Choose “Reboot system now” to reboot your Galaxy S3.

Step 22. You should now find an app called SuperSU in your app drawer. Congratulations! You’ve rooted your Galaxy S3! Pat yourself on the back if you did this in about 5 minutes, the beauty of Samsung Android smartphones.

Step 23. You can verify that you have full root by downloading root apps like Titanium Backup app and opening it, you should see “Superuser request” window pop up.

FAQ

Q: Does this root method erase my settings and apps?
A: No, it doesn’t touch a thing, very safe to do.

Q: ODIN does not start on my computer, what do I do?
A: Sometimes various Windows programs and drivers interfere with ODIN, try closing/killing any programs before running the program. If that does’t work, just use another computer.

Q: I ended up in Kernel panic mode, what do I do?
A: Relax, that’s same as ODIN download mode, simply run ODIN again and flash the files again, it will work.

Q: Will this root method work on newer updates?
A: Yes, this root method will work regardless of new updates.

Q: I keep getting stock Android recovery instead of ClockworkMod Recovery!
A: After rooting, erase /system/recovery-from-boot.p and /system/etc/install-recovery.sh using ES File Explorer with Root and Write enabled. That will make CWM stick. This is due to newer software versions overwriting your stock recovery on reboot.

More questions? Please leave in the comment section below for help from author and other users.

More on this Root Method

This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works.

hi max i have followed all the steps in the guide while watching the video, and odin completely works, i get the yellow box for the drivers and i get the green pass, but when i unplug my phone, and take out the battery, then as fast as i can turn it on with volume down home and then power, but i still get the android download manager pls help!

Hi I get the same thing actually and yes I did volume up but I can never get into the clockwork recovery mode…..can you please help simply put I followed your instructions, I have no sd card, I simply copy and paste into my phone as you’ve mentioned but I still get into the stock rather than the clockwork recovery mode………..

honestly i got stuck here too! it was so frustrating but you just have to keep flashing and keep trying to boot into CWM i mustve tried about 10 times before it went from android to CWM follow the steps it can be frustrating but it works!!! thanks max!! 🙂

You have to remove the files /system/recovery-from-boot.p and /system/etc/install-recovery.sh
then repeat the process from the guide all over and flash new CWM, as the system probably already restored stock recovery manager.

Same with me.I have a 1747M,and every “root” method failed because of the “PIT partition”!!!!
Everything freeze at “Pit mapping”….
I dont know how to get this (or these,idk!) PIT partition-file.
Need help.
Tnx.

agFinder,I was just abt to send my 1747M to get serviced,and last night I tried one last time but on ANOTHER PC (win 7,64b)….it worked!!!!

Stupid me…I did not do this “method”.I did the MrRobinson’s one on XDA….So all I did was root my 1747M…(I was SO sure it wasnt going to work!).
So last night I was granted SUser right…and this morning I was not! (un-rooted iguess!!!).
I am such a noob,its not even funny.

I followed this method and was successfully rooted my ATT Galaxy S3 I747 before. I used it again when I received the 4.3 via OTA. After finished, my phone showed the KNOX had blocked the SuperSU. May I ask anyway to get around it? Thanks.

Thanks, this was one of my questions. As the title says How to Root U.S. and Canada Galaxy S3 SGH-T999/SGH-I747/SPH-L710! [Fail-Proof][Noob-Proof][U.S. Cellular], but the guide only gives options for Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile and we don’t have any of those in Canada.

I’m (hastily) trying to root my i747 on my mac. I have heimdall, and have the recovery.img from this, but it still keeps failing to connect. is there a possibility that i just need a different .pit file from the one on your original s3 package for mac? (I was told the recovery.img is different for the i747, but didn’t know if the old .pit was incompatible too).

U.S./Canadian Qualcomm S4 isn’t compatible with Heimdall, you will be better off using VMware or borrow your friend’s Windows computer as far as I know, let me double-check though but I am pretty sure.

After flashing CWM on the T-Mobile SGS3 is the ext sd card able to be seen in the CWR? Also after doing a back-up and putting it in the ext sd card will we be able to flash the back-up from the ext sd card? I ask because I have seen in other forums some not being able to use their back ups from their ext sd card and some not being able to see their ext sd card from CWM.
Thanks, Vinny

The link does not seem to be working. I live in the US, not sure if that makes a difference. I just get page cannot be loaded. I am on Win 7 Ultimate 32bit. Tried Chrome, Firefox, and IE9. Same error message. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for the fantastic directions! Quick questions, how do I enable free tethering. I DL titanium backup and installed the tethering option under backup/restore. Now, when i go to the tethering menu under setting and turn it on, it says “unfortunately, setting has stopped”

I just installed the most recent OTA (Hit my phone on August 24th). I had to revert back to stock recovery obviously for the OTA to install. Now, even with taking out the battery, every future reboot resets the recovery image.. The first time I was able to install SU, and I confirmed I do have root access still after the reboot, just no clockwork recovery..
Can someone confirm they have the latest August OTA installed and that you are keeping Clockwork?

Update to myself: The latest ClockworkMOD 6.0.1.2 has an option to disable the auto-flash of the stock recovery. I ran that and now I’m good to go. Thanks for this great website and the work you do keeping it current!

can you explain what you did differently?
I’m having the same issue with my T999, ever since the OTA I havent been able to get root privileges or Clockworkmod to install even when Odin says the flash passed.

My SCH-R530U rooted but it’s not recognizing it rooted. I looked around online and could find an answer to this. When I run SuperSU *updated* it tells me to update my binary, I do, and use the “normal” command then it ask me to attempt to disable knox I attempt and it says “Failed to disable knox” That’s as far as I can get, I’ve been searching for an answer for the past two months but nothing.

Most likely heimdall, which is ODIN open source program for Mac, will not work on U.S./Canada Galaxy S3 variants with Qualcomm S4 processor. It’s not compatible as far as I know but I will verify this later today.

Hey, great writeup and video. Made everything a breeze. I went ahead and rooted my S3 and installed a custom rom shortly after. However, my question is how do I go back to a stock rom? Is there a specific stock rom file I would need to download and flash through CWM? If so, would there happen to be a link on your website for future use? 🙂 Thanks in advance.

Hey, thanks for a great way to root on updated att galaxy s3! now can you tell me how to install custom roms? when i enter cwm, it is in manual mode or something and i can’t flash anything. can i do it thru odin? if so how?

Sometimes when I connect my phone to computer via usb it gives an error on the computer ‘USB Device not recognized’ even though Kies is installed. I tryed uninstalling it and installing it, same thing happened.

Hi MAx, I love all your videos. They have all been Super helpful. Quick question. I have just rooted my Sprint GalaxyS3. A systems update continues to pop out. Do I update it ? Or will it mess up my root. Its currently running on Android 4.0.4 Kernel 3.0.8-618049.. Thanks You’re the BEst!!!

DANGER! I followed this guide to the letter on my rogers i747 and it WIPED MY IMEI!!! I did nothing else other than what is listed here. I had to swap out my 2 hour old SGS3 for replacement. I would not use this method if I were you, go to xda there are better methods.

Are you sure? This root method does not touch your IMEI in any way. It installs recovery to the recovery partition that is all. IMEI only can happen if you did something “after” flashing recovery in CWM.

hi max
i just tried to install a custom ROM on my ATT s3 and apparently it was for an i9300, it said there was an error when flashing the rom so i went back and hit reboot now. Now the phone wont even start or do anything at all. what can i do?
thanks!!

Hi
I want to root my Rogers S3 I747M. I have several questions.
1) I want to get away from the rogers stock firmware since I am running the phone under the fido network and rogers does not allow me to save the apn for fido. I can enter it but as long as I do not restart it is there. if I restart or pull the battery the apn settings are gone. Rogers does this purposely. I assume rooting will fix this ?
2) what other benefit will rooting give me ?
3)can I do update from Samsung or once you root there are no more updates ?

I can manage to do the root as it does not seem difficult, I just need to understand the concept. Why do some user state they need to reload the CWM. when does this happen and why ?
sorry for the long winded questions.

SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!!! I was given a AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 by my boyfriend since he thought his was defected and he got a new one from AT&T. He was told to keep the old phone which he gave to me. My problem is that my network is covered by T-Mobile. I want to find a way to unlock the sim/ phone so I’ll be able to use my T-Mobile sim card in an AT&T phone. Can anyone help?

Hey Max. If i follow this \How to Root U.S. and Canada Galaxy S3 SGH-T999/SGH-I747/SPH-L710! [Fail-Proof][Noob-Proof][U.S. Cellular] will this method trip the flash counter or will it not. Thanks. I am coming from iphone any help will be appreciated. Thanks……

Hi
I want to root my Rogers S3 I747M. I have several questions.
1) I want to get away from the rogers stock firmware since I am running the phone under the fido network and rogers does not allow me to save the apn for fido. I can enter it but as long as I do not restart it is there. if I restart or pull the battery the apn settings are gone. Rogers does this purposely. I assume rooting will fix this ?
2) what other benefit will rooting give me ?
3)can I do update from Samsung or once you root there are no more updates ?

I can manage to do the root as it does not seem difficult, I just need to understand the concept. Why do some user state they need to reload the CWM. when does this happen and why ?
sorry for the long winded questions.

Thanks for the quick reply. So just to confirm when I root, I can still get samsung updates and still download apps for the Play store.
Can I store the CWM that you provide on my sim ? and reload it if it happens ?
WhatHow does the Rom Manager help me or work . I coming from an Iphone and before that the blackberry.
I am still learning android OS. Thanks
Robert

Once rooted u need to unroot to get ota updates usually but i dont really recommend ota updates they usually remove a feature than adding, better to stick with custom roms the whole point of rooting. cwm gets stored on ur phones hardware so…. just take it slow it will all come to you eventually dont rush things thats how u get into trouble just have fun.

Max,
I finally rooted my phone BUT it does not solve the problem I was having with the phone.
When I add an apn to my phone, when I restart the phone the APN I entered gets lost. This is still happening even after I root the phone. Samsung claims it is a bug in their software and it will be corrected once a new update it out.
I assume that by rooting my phone this would solve the problem.It has not.
Any ideas ?

If I wanted to go back to the original way the phone was (unrooted) How do I go about it ?

I have a GS3 from Rogers.
The APN still has the same problem that I cannot save any new APN and as well I thought that when I did the root that certain program that were built into the OS like the visual voice mail and shopping and rogers account program (those extras) will be gone.
They are still there. and cannot deleted or uninstalled.
Robert
Fibrolan

Max
Good Morning ! my phone is still rooted and I have not gone back to the stock rom.
Can you please provide me a link of a good custom rom that you recommend and provide me a link. I want to install a custom rom today.
thanks
Fibrolan

can we back up those 2 files and keep them local on a PC? i just rooted my Tmo SG3 today and im reading through several posts and I’m seeing that CWM doesn’t stick when u try to go to recovery? i am still on stock rom. if i delete those 2 files in /system and /system/etc will CWM be “permanent”? thanks again Max!

Can’t phone to enter download mode I press the 3 buttons as suggested and only thing that happens is my phone takes a screenshot and reboots. Overtime same result I have sprint gs3 white model what should I do please advise. Thank you.

Max, will get my SIII tomorow and am looking to root. Have followed you with my SII and did a lot of flashing.
Question? If I root and backup, then remove the two files and do a second backup, I assume that I would have permanent CWM with the second backup. If I wanted to get back to stock I could restore the first backup and reboot. which would get me to the original state. If I then wanted to get back to the second or other backups later I would have to install CWM again and restore a different backup.
Is this correct?

No, CWM is in the separate partition with Galaxy S3 (unlike Galaxy S2), so backing up ROM will not backup any CWM. However, unlike GS2, Galaxy S3 is compatible with ROM Manager (due to the fact that recovery partition is separate from kernel) so you can just use ROM Manager to reflash CWM once you have root, easier.

I’ve followed the directions so far but I still haven’t gotten the PASS sign after pressing start. Is it okay to close ODIN or disconnect my phone? I’m really worried and dont want to risk bricking it. I’m stuck at Get PIT for mapping..

great tutorial Max. I successfully rooted my phone, however, now that I try to manually boot into CWR, the phone takes me directly into the android recovery mode. I followed all the steps carefully and this is really bugging me because I can’t install custom ROMS. please help, thanks

Ok iv’e been trying to root for 2 days now and haven’t succeeded yet. it fails saying get PIT for mapping or something to do with com. Don’t have exact quote on the com problem. I am on sprint and model SPH-L710 and i noticed in the video it had com 7 and mine says com 4. Any suggestions?

I was wondering if you had completed your instructions on doing this procedure on a Mac and if so are you going to be doing it on 10.8 Mountain Lion or Lion? Because so much i have found isn’t compatable with 10.8.

Thanks for the tutorial. I followed it and have successfully rooted my Rogers SGH-i747m.
I want to preview a JB custom rom. I read somewhere that the CWM 5.5.0.4 is only for ICS based sammy ROMS. Do I need to upgrade CWM to the latest version for my device 5.8.4.7? If so, how do I do that? With ODIN? Through CWM itself?

PS. The root guide over at XDA > http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426 [HOWTO] [ROOT] No Tripping Flash Counter – Updated [ATT / Bell / Telus / Rogers] is so different from your method and I uses a more current version of ODIN + CWM, does this matter?

TLDR: I want to try kyanrom, AOKP, CM10, CM9, and a few other custom ROMs but I am unsure how to proceed with so much conflicting information out there. I’m rooted (using your method), I made a nandroid, but am clueless on how to flash CM10 and then another mod or just restore my nandroid. Please help

I just got the S3 and am trying to root. I got the pass on Odin and when pulling the battery out and replacing it, I am not able to get the CWM. I have done it a few times and nothing. I have also tried by holding volume up, home and power buttons and nothingg happens. When I let go of the power button after a few seconds I just get continuous vibration whille continually holding volume up and home buttons. I am getting frustrated to bits. HELP ME PLEASE

great tutorial Max. I successfully rooted my phone, however, now that I try to manually boot into CWR, the phone takes me directly into the android recovery mode. I followed all the steps carefully and this is really bugging me because I can’t install custom ROMS. please help, thanks

Thanks man. Brilliant guide. Works better than a lot of “one-click” roots I’ve used. Really does only take about 5 min if you read the directions a few times and make sure you understand.

I also found that once you’re done and have root, installing Rom manager off of Google play, and having it flashcclockwork mod (first option in the app) will make clockwork mod recovery persistent. Just a way to save people mucking around the root of their phones looking for files to delete.

Don’t know if it’s a universal fix or not, but I got quite hooked on cwm touch, so it was the first thing installed. Ironically, after a backup and a quick pass with root uninstaller, I’m still on the stock Rom and loving it.

Max, really nice on the instructions, until I got stuck. I’ve tried step 13 and not getting traction from the reboot after battery-back-in. I keep getting the Downloading screen. Is the usb plug supposed to be in still???

Excellent video. One small problem. Right at the beginning of the video you asked us to make sure that USB PC Connection was checked. I have searched through ever menu I can find, yet I can’t find that menu. This is an S3 with Telus here in Alberta. I have no idea how to get to that menu.

Hey Max,
How long should it take once I get to the Cyanogen (mod) 9 animation? I’ve been here for 10-15 minutes or so lol, Is it stuck in a loop? I didn’t clear cache, should I go back, clear cache and reinstall Cyanogen mod 10?

Not two days after rooting S3 via your excellent instructions AT&T wants to update phone, and I also see that in September they will be rolling out JB (4.1). When AT&T tries to update, the CWM menu comes up and I choose reboot, after which AT&T says update failed. Do I want this update and JB next month? Do I have to unroot phone to get them? Is it worth it? (I’m doubting it is but feel better at least asking.) Thanks Max!

Followed all your steps till like step 15. I have an att sgs 3. When i try to “Choose Zip from Sd card” i get an error message E: Can’t mount /sdcard/.

I tried going into mounts and storage and tried to “Mount /sdcard”. I get an error message “Error mounting /sd card”
Please advice… BTW i am using 64gb sdxc card( hope this doesn’t have much impact on the process).

my CWM isnt the same as the one in the video or on the pictues the menu options are
“Reboot System now
Apply update from ext storage
wipe data / fact. reset
wipe cache
apply update from cache”

I tried apply update but that didnt work.

any way u can help me root this damn phone -_-
this is my first time rooting and im just doing it because the samsung touch overlay is the worse thing i have ever seen and want to install jellybean on my phone as the OS

any information you can give me to help me achieve this would be appreciated

Hi, I’m from Mexico, recently I bought one of the Galaxy S3 sprint model (SPH-L710); I can send / receive phone calls and SMS, however I not able to connect the device to the mobile data.
Do you think this problem could be solved If I do the root with your tutorial ?

Rooted my ATT Galaxy SIII today wiithout a problem. Then removed the two files in oder to maintain root. No problems. Backedup the Stock ROM and then flashed your High on Android ROM, also no problem. The only thing is that CWM will not mount my External SD card and the dates on the Backup are 1970+. I read on XDA that this is a problem which they are aware of and that Koush(the developer of CWM) is working to resolve this.
The Phone is working fine and I am planning on trying out a few other ROMS but will problably use yours as my Daily Driver.
Keep up the good work.

Forgot to mention I tried to use various versions of CWM (flashed) but they all seem to not recognize my SD Card. I did reformat the 64gb card so it is not exFat but Fat 32. I hope they find a solution since I prefer to use the Externat SD Card for backups.

I followed all the instructions but when i took the battery and powered it off i didn’t see apply zip blabla external sd card there was just apply update from sd card. i think i messed up. now when i try to run odin it doesn’t detect my device. what did i possibly do wrong and how can i fix it zedomaxxxxx? 😮

On Galaxy III for Sprint (SPH-L710), I cannot for the life of me get to the CWM recover menu. I use Odin to flash NAND, disconnect USB, pull battery, put back in battery, hold down home/vol-, then press and release power once it reboots. It always and without fails brings me back to the warning screen [step 6]. (and if I continue, I’m back to the flash download screen [step 7].

I didn’t read carefully enough- I shut the phone off before I removed the battery, and my clockwork mod got overwritten with the stock mod. Now, however, when I go into odin I don’t get anything- no com, no yellow, no nothing. Any idea how I can get this thing back to odin?

Just rooted my phone but when I try to open up Titanium back up, it says “Error Sorry, I could not acquire root privileges. This aplication will *not* work! Please verify that your ROM is rooted and includes BusyBox, and try again. This attempt was made using the “/system/xbin/su” command “. Did I do something wrong? I clearly have the “SuperSU” app in my app drawer though so I don’t know what I did.

It works perfectly on my ROGERS i747m S3. I had to try it a few times because Kies was running in the background the first 2 tries. So I had to reboot my machine and make sure Kies wasn’t running, then everything works like it’s suppose to. THANKS.

Thanks for the great video and instructions. I am having a problem though, I get through the Odin step and then, evenn though i follow the directions, the phone boots into android recovery instead of clockwork. Therefore, I cannot install select and install super user. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks. That worked, and I am rooted. However, I now I can’t boot into clockwork recovery mode to make a backup as you suggest I do before I install my first ROM. Whenever I attempt to enter recovery, android recovery comes up, not clockwork. I have tried several times with no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks again.

I rooted the phone following the instruction here with a little tweak. My T-999 had an OTA update few days ago which might be the cause of my problem. I too am unable to access Clockwork Recovery instead it goes directly to Android Recovery 3e. When I followed the instructions step by step, it would not allow me to go to clockworkmod, I had to UNCHECK auto-reboot in odin, and reboot manually (power+vol up+home after turn off the phone) to access clockworkmod thus enabling me to install superuser and root the phone, that was the little tweak I had. Problem is I don’t want to have to do this everytime which I’m afraid might damage the phone. I tried access recovery directly through ROM manager, went straight to Android Recovery.

I rooted my phone with your instructions and everything went smoothly, thank you! I have a question roms. Is there any way to add more languages with stock rom? If I need to flash with a Rom just for having more language options just like international model which Rom do you recommend?

I followed the instructions in this guide and it rooted successfully but now when I try to connect my Sprint S3 to my Windows computer it won’t register. A bubble comes on my computer screen stating that the Hardware ID is Missing. It was connecting correctly before I tried rooting.

I followed these instructions to a T and now my internal memory is completely gone. It won’t register when I plug it into a Windows computer. It says that the hardware ID is missing and when I tried running through odin again and re-installing superuser.zip the opting for internal memory is not even there anymore.

Hey Max! could i use odin to flash CWM 6.0.1.2? i downloaded it as an image file not tar. can i still flash it over 5.5.0.4? i want to install cm10 nightly for i747 and 5.5.0.4 will not support that rom! thanks

I tried to root my new Samsung Galaxy S3 from Sprint and I get to the point where I see the yellow window and press start after following all the instructions to 11 and I get a BSOD in my windows 7 home premium. I never gets to update my phones roms or anything I get the info on the screen but the large box never goes PASS and my computer gives me a BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH after about 4 min of waiting. I just got this phone a week ago and just wanted to root it to stop the crappy SPRINT stuff from loading on my phone. Please help..

Unfortunately not at this time. I will try it next week when I get home. I am on my ASUS gamers laptop and have tried it multiple times with no success. Each time I get the same crash error BSOD which I have never received on this machine before. However I am running the 64 bit OS and I am thinking maybe that caused the error.

Hey I have a quick question I’m trying to get into clockwork recovery mode but I can’t. I’m trying to install a custom wrong and stuff but everytime press top volume, home button, and power button it just shuts off my phone. and when I release the power button it takes me to the screen that says reboot device, upgrade something external storage. help me please

ok so I unrooted my phone when I heard the new ota came out and installed official uvalh2 i tried to reroot using the same tar file i used to root the old baseband version, and when it flashed i tried to pull out battery, and go into recovery but it kept going into stock recovery and when it rebooted it kept force closing so I had to reboot and now it messed up again HELP!!!

I followed the instructions and it rooted my at&t Galaxy 3. Now i cant connect to the internet,.
This is terrible and i need my phone for work tomorrow.
My name is Max as well. I really need some help a quick as possible. I am sorry to bother you but I need your assistance in getting this fixed.
I thank you very much!
Max

I had my phone rooted using your video and it went like a charm and then I used triangle to reset the count. Now an update came from Samsung PDA:LH1/Phone:LH1/CSC:LH1(RWC)
I was using recoveryGa;axyS3USCanada.TAR

Is there an update ? or will this version work to root the phone after this update ?

Hello Max,
I am having trouble booting to clockworkmod recovery mode. Everytime I attemp, it boots to stock recovery. The only solution I have found for this issue is that I have to flash clockworkmod recovery through rom manager then power off the phone then press volume up+home+power. I am only able to boot to clockworkmod recovery through this process. Do you have any other solutions to this problem ? If I keep flashing cwr is it going to mess up my phone?

so i have super user but when ever i go to recovery mode i can’t boot into clockwork mod. i noticed in one of your other videos you downloaded clockwork mod app. i did that and installed clockwork mod through the app, but still when i go into recovery mode I don’t see clock work mod, i aslo went looking for the system files on es file explorer and I can’t find them either. please help, i hate to be so close to flashing a custom rom yet so far.

HEY MAX, IVE BEEN TRYING TO ROOT MY GALAXY S3 SGH T999, FOR A FEW DAYS NOW. WHEN I RUN ODIN EVERYTHING PASSES. BUT, WHEN TRY TO INSTALL THE SUPER USER FILE FROM MY SD CARD, IT KEEPS TELLING ME VERIFICATION SIGNATURE FAILED, AND I CANT FIGURE OUT WHAT IM DOING WRONG. IVE FOLLOWED YOUR VIDEO, AN INSTRUCTIONS. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM MIGHT BE. IF YOU COULD HELP ME I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT. OR IF ANYONE ELSE MAY KNOW WHAT IM DOING WRONG. PLEASE HELP

Hey max glad to see you got youtube going again:)
there’s just 1 question I have to ask before I root when I backup my stock rom can I flash back to that and after I root that’s when I have access to back up stock Rom a.nd if I mess up I can get stock Rom?

Success on a Sprint S3. At first, my Odin got hung up on PIT for mapping so I tried another USB port on my desktop running windows 7 pro and it reloaded the Samsung driver and I was able to get it to run odin correctly then. Thought for a while there that I was going to have to go to another pc. Now I have Wifi Tether!!

My wife just got a Galaxy S3 L710.14 Version. You were really helpful with my Evo 4G Lte. I was having lots of trouble Rooting that one and i couldn’t have done it without you i just wanted to thank you for that. Well my issue is and always is, I have a MAC so i usually get my instructions last. Have you made a Video for that yet? I really want to do this tonight. Whats the difference between these Windows instructions and the Mac instructions. Last time the only difference was a line in the shell script. If thats the case let me know and ill do it tonight. Or maybe you can inbox me some quick written instructions. Either way….HELP! I need to root this using a Mac!!!….lol

I successfully rooted my phone, however, now that I try to manually boot into CWR, the phone takes me directly into the android recovery mode. I followed all the steps carefully and this is really bugging me because I can’t install custom ROMS. please help, thanks. If it helps I deleted the 2 files as well. Also redid the odin part as well. I’m also on 4.0.4

Thanks for posting this tut (first time using android) 🙂
I made a mistake in rooting my galaxy s3 (wind mobile SGH-T999v) I rooted using the wrong the SuperSu File
Sprint version, saw the USandCanada version too late. How should i go about rooting it with the CanadaUs Version.
unroot it then re-root it?

Thanks to Max for putting out an awesome tutorial! Everything seems to be working very well with the exception that my battery appears to be draining slightly faster. Still troubleshooting.

I am brand new to rooting so I have a few n00b questions for everyone.
I have only done what is explained in the tutorial, so what “ROM” am I running?
What is meant by making CWM permanent? And once it’s done can I still unroot?
If I preform a restart does it affect anything having to do with the root?

After rooting the signal on my phone went to crap. I am sitting on either no signal or edge all the time and I can barely call anyone or receive calls. It takes 10 minutes to receive a text. Can you please help? I changed the sim, unrooted and factory restored, nothing helped. Please help.

Sean Asten…I hate to give you bad news, but the same thing happened to my S3. I called tech support, went to AT&T stores several times, unrooted, restored etc and nothing worked. I was stuck on Edge/no signal for a couple days. Ultimately there was nothing I could do and I had to send it in for a replacement, after I told At&t they sold me a brick of course, and that fixed it. Hence why I am so apprehensive about rooting this phone because it works the way it’s supposed to.

Did your IMEI number change to zeros too? That’s what happened to me. The phone no longer communicates with the 4g towers and the IMEI is required for that to work. Should have seen the look on the att rep when I explained my phone doesn’t get 4g and the IMEI is 0’s.

hey max, great video, i have rooted my phone, but for some reason the whole wifi thether to turn my phone into a mobile hotspot is still not connecting, i have the sprint version. it will read the connection on my computer, will connect but still says no internet access, im really frusstrated with this, this is one of the main reasons why i wanted to root my phone in the first place, any help would be greatly appriciated
thank you for your time

Hi Max, I was able to install odin, but got a fail read on the superuser. That happened twice. Third time, I tried to install superuser through internal memory instead of sd card, hit the cache button and started /. Now my phone has android figure with gyrading triangel hexagon figure spinning to no end. HELP.

Hi Max and all I install so meny deferment ways and never have meager problem once i install ROM and without rooting and i got root and new ROM install and once i formatted everything there is to format and install eny ROM and work to so i don’t under-send lot of this problems and i am 70 y old and not super save on computer you instructions are sow simple (common sens) that you cant make mestak sorry for my English no time to corrected
Good lock to all be brave !!

Ok I downloaded everything fiddling all steps when I click PDA and hit start it start and then stop over in the message box it stops at ( get PIT for mapping..) and it goes no farther what is the problem???

so … I wasnt intending to root My sgs3 until after I received the jelly bean update, but I encountered what seems to be a common MAJOR bug in the s3 … crashing when copying text to the clipboard. there are two ways to fix this: a full factory reset! ugh or using root to wipe the /data/clipboard folder … guess which method I opted for 😉

I used this wonderful page’s method and files … simple … 4 minutes … happy to confirm that this rooting process works perfectly for SGH-T999V on Videotron in Canada … major thanks Max … buy you a beer? 😉

needless to say, after rooting, I was able to wipe /data/clipboard in es file explorer and reboot and find that My copy+paste woes were fixed 🙂

extra info : superSU binary in the zip is version 0.70 … it installs & updates the binary when you launch the app to version 0.87 … and then on google play store, you get the ability to Update to latest and greatest version 0.96 (29-aug) enjoy 🙂

got a minor (stability) firmware upgrade … which failed authentication at the cwm recovery screen … but succeeded via Kies … still 4.0.4 … but build has moved from LE6 (may) to LH2 (aug) so at least there’s some movement, lol

anyways.. the upgrade wiped out cwm recovery and su and replaced them with samsung stock (says download mode screen) altho conveniently left the counter at 1, lol …. re-used this method of flashing cwm recovery and then supersu … and rooted again 🙂

sup dudes! I’m trying to root my S3 T-Mobile. Installed Odin3 v3.04 (instead of yellow hightlight on com it was blue. I hope this was due to a lastest version of Odin.) It installed successfully. I copy paste Superuser on SD card. First, I do not get an install from sd card command. I get the usual commands except for “apply update from external storage” Aha this is da difference from v1 and v3 of Odin. I’m hoping. I proceed. to go to apply update from external storage. I see da SuperUser zip file ( ahhh I’m almost there). But I get E: signature verification failed. ( Noo, I #$%! up. Please help. I hope I didn’t #$%! up and there’s hope, so please again hhhelp.

hi max
I am using a rogers I747 samsung GS3 and I have rooted my phone with no issues just followed your video.
I am having problem with skype. it seems only after I reboot the phone i am sometimes able to log in. and sometimes not and it it just keeps spinning and nothing, no login.
Does anyone have this problem after rooting the phone ? any ideas on how to fix it ?

Hello, I just purchased an At&t Galaxy S3 for At&t, to use on T-Mobile. Is there anyway to flash this phone to use the T-mobile Software? I need the Wifi Calling features, and the Tmobile 4g, which is not working on the phone with At&t software. If someone can please help me, I would appreciate it. cierrasdad75@gmail.com

Hi Max and everyone ? do the files install-recovery.sh and recovery-from-boot.p are the same in Galaxy S2 to delete i have same problem with GS2 i swap the card back and fort and i get up date is generated to phone number and serial number of the phone . please let me know? thanks for all you work and dedication .

WOOOHOOOO. Got my T-Mobile GS3 2 days ago and just rooted. I still have my ROOTED GS2 and knowing how awsome rooting your phone is i decided to get the SG3 done. Nice. Now find a ROM i like. MAX Thanx, absolutley AWSOME. Keep up the good work.AOKP here i come.

Max – thanks for all the detailed help, but HELP!!! I rooted about a month ago with no trouble. Then yesterday I kept getting the OTA update box. It kept coming back. So I searched for answers all over the net about stopping that. None of the answers worked except one: It said to let the update run, and then it will fail.

I did that and the OTA update was successful – rather than failing. Now I’m not rooted anymore!!! I have SuperUser but no root apps work.

So – I started these instructions above – and when I got to number 15 I didn’t get the same menu as you show!!! My menu gives these choices: reboot system now; apply update from external storage; wipe data/factory reset; wipe cache partition; apply update from cache. I’m stuck! Apparently Clockwork didn’t boot for me.

The impossible happened. I actually figured it out on my own. There is a long list of people who would be stunned I was able! Sometimes these instructions either aren’t carried out right or the phone doesn’t do what is expected when following them. I say its the latter. I started over and it worked the 2nd go. If at first you don’t succeed… blah blah

I did. Luckily I was able to limp through getting the stock rom back (although not working). I didn’t have SuperUser though, and when I went to the Sprint Store they didn’t suspect rooting – I told them I had a failure as a result of the push and that’s true. So, I don’t have insurance on it – but since its a software issue I got a new S3 for $35.

When I downloaded the zip file and extracted it, the SuperUser file did not say .zip
I followed the instructions anyway and copy pasted the SuperUser folder into the phone’s SPH-L710 folder. Everything was working but step 18 looked different. Instead of the No’s and Yes, it only showed two options: META-INF and system. Help please? I actually just want to get rid of the camera shutter sound, if you know another (easier) way of getting rid of it, do share!

having a problem when i extract the files and the four of them appear the .tar file and the superuser file are not showing like yours. i use winrar and it just shows the little books stacked help please. im using windows 7

hi max. i just brought a s3 its on telus and i use rogers so im waiting on my new micro sim to come and then get it unlocked by the many ways on ebay.( unless some 1s know how to do it for free?) is it safe to root it n install cwm b4 i get unlocked by the imei number or should i wait to after its unlocked? thanks.

Did you try pressing Vol UP + Home + Power until reboot and then let go Power while still holding Vol UP + Home? I didn’t know that before and had the same problem until I use that method to reboot into CWM recovery.

First of all, thanks for the tutorial on rooting the SGS III, SGH-i747.

I followed step by step, and now I have my SGS rooteado. everything worked as it should, until I run a game (simple games eg angry birds), the game does not load (and falls into a repetitive cycle, wanting to load it), and if successful, a short time (1 or 2 phases), the game takes me, or repetitive phases begins again, not letting it load.

Why should this be a problem in the process of root, or some corrupted file when making root?.

Hello there 🙂 really like the site it’s very helpful ty…I hope it ok to post this here…I got my new Galaxy S3 on Bell Canada carrier model number SGH-I747M and followed these step here in this tutorial to Root it and it all worked great! 🙂 I can boot into CWM recovery no problem and all is good there but omg no matter what I try I can’t seem to get the nightly CM10 JB or Siyah Kernel on there at all! lol and it was all sooo easy on my S2…any advice from anyone to point me in the right direction would be greatly apreciated…ty so much for this great site!

ok wow lol that was a pain but I finally got it…it was all in the way I was holding the buttons…I wasn’t letting go of the power button while still holding home and vol up buttons….sheesh well I’m glad it worked…ty 🙂

I have some questions in my head, if i root my phone using this method and i delete the 2 files to keep CWM permanently, is theres a way i can unroot the phone to the original state and files for warranty purpose?

the other one is, will you post the OTA update to use in rooted phones after the update comes out?

Hi there i just did this and i went to play store installed rom manager and flashed. it worked well i tested it did a nandroid backup but when rebooting and trying again it went back to stock recovery and rom manger says it cant flash recovery anymore. checked super user looks all good granted permissions. help! do i need to run odin again?

I did this and everything worked fine, then the phone reboot because on an app and when the phone try to boot it get stuck in samsung glowing logo and don’t do nothing. I really don’t what to do and it, can somebody help me step by step what to do to fix this.

I got the s3 a couple of weeks ago and rooted in the next day – just can live
without Titanium Backup and Ad Away!

I have two related questions:

1) With CWM, the OTA update AT&T has started pushing will not install. However,
it sounds like it has some useful features. Any thoughts on how to install this? Ive
read that it requires a manual install, but after doing the download, I can’t find a zip
that looks like the install.

2) AT&T is supposed to make JB available later this month (although I’ll believe
it when I see it). If they do, will CWM get in the way of that? Or does Kies (the
usual way of installing a full OS update) get around that? Just trying to think
ahead!

regarding part 1) … when an ota fails and tells you it requires a manual install (which happened to Me).. it is usually cuz the downloaded update failed to verify the signature of the file ( possible corruption during download) or maybe cuz the cwm recovery doesn’t do things exactly as samsung stock recovery does (I know this for a fact cuz the backup options in My cwm recovery do ridiculous, useless things.. backups from version 6.0.1.2 are useless)

all you have to is plug in to kies and the ota firmware upgrade will be available .. let it go.. it will download, unencrypt, decompress, then it will put your phone in download mode and after it reboots it will tell you the upgrade its done .. took 30+ minutes for Me

make sure to backup first!

you will have to re-root cuz it returns recovery to stock .. so 5 more minutes using this wonderful thread and you are upgraded and re-rooted 🙂

note: this assumes you used this thread, are rooted, and on stock rom .. if you are on a custom rom, you will have to return to stock kernel (probably) before kies allows upgrade

the ota was still ics 4.0.4 but it was aug 15 build date, so it changed only afew settings and added a brightness slider into the notification shade. the original build date was may 27, so it was a necessary update towards the eventual end-sept or oct build date that JB 4.1 will have

the video and thread are by Max.. I’m just part of the “everyone else” lol

It turns out that the newer version of CWM can handle the AT&T OTA, update, so I used ROM Manager to update CWM. It takes a bit of fiddling – one has tell it to install the unknown package, but it works without using Kies (of which I’m not that big a fan). However, as you point out, you do have to re-root. Not a big deal. Now I’m just waiting for JB.

Great video but I have a question. This the second time I have root my S3 and it gives me superuser access and all but when I download titanium backup I open it and grant it superuser access I get a warning: “this device’s ID has changed”, it goes on to show me the adroid number and also the previous number. I get three options to choose ignore, ask me later, restore the previous ID. When I hit restore it tells me that the feature is available on the donate version. I don’t want to donate just want the free version but will selecting the ignore option damage the phone in any way? Thanks.

I am having a problem with galaxy s3 sgh-i747m – the goal is to use this rogers phone on mobilicity. I am coming from the iphone and I am new to android. I have followed your how to root to flash. It worked like a charm. However, my problem is I do not have the option of selecting from an internal card. I have copy the super user file to the phone already using drop box. When I tried to get into cwm i am in android system recovry
my options are
reboot system
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache

I rooted my phone but after rebooting for the first time, I cannot seem to find the folder /system/ to delete the two files you mentioned nor access data/clipboard/ (I wanted to root my phone to fix my phone from freezing when copying text). when I boot to CWM, it loaded the stock page. I am not sure what did I do wrong there since I checked with Titanium and Directory Bind and they seem to verify that my phone has been rooted.

I installed the root on the phone and SuperSU is on the phone and root apps work. The only problem is that CWM does not seem to be installed on the phone. Once ROM Manager is running there is no recognized version, once I use the app I cannot flash it since it does not recognize the phone (does not say SGS3). Can someone help me? There is no contact information for anyone on this site so I figured I’d write here. Thanks

Rooted phones should be tested for various components to be operable before stating it works.
Example:
1. Wifi work
2. Contacts and Calendar fully operable with syncing and editing.
3. Messaging and phone are operable

For those who cannot get into CWM after flashing it:
what you need to do is after doing the steps above to rename 2 files using root explorer:
/system/recovery-from-boot.p and /system/etc/install-recovery.sh
(i added ORIGINAL at the start of the filename)

after, download ROM Manager from the play store, grant it superuser permissions and click on the first option – Flash ClockworkMod Recovery
this will flash it again on the phone, but this time it will alow you to boot into it either using the key combo or the more simple way- clicking on “reboot into recovery” in the app

after you root the phone,
you use root explorer to go exactly where i said:
system dir to rename recovery-from-boot.p
and then inside the system dir you go inside the dir etc and there you rename the file install-recovery.sh

Thanks Max, i am using SIII from Wind Mobile Canada and my phone is working great and your rooting method is absolutely working. Now i am have one question. What two files i have to delete after rooting? I cannot find any information about it (previous you mentioned that you would update about how to remove these two files in the website but i can’t find it). Thanks you so much again

In case some of you can’t find those two files. If you can boot into CWM without any problems by pressing all 3 buttons and letting go the power button, then there’s no need to delete/rename them. Mine is an i747m from Rogers and those two files are not in my phone and I can boot into CWM with no issues.

Hi, I used this root method and everything went well and really easy.. as soon as I had root access I went to tmobile and removed wifi hotspot cuz there is no need to pay extra now.. well today when it took full effect, I can’t give out wifi from any app at all… what can I do??

Hi everyone. I made a noob mistake and now im having a bit of trouble. I rooted my device a couple of months ago but kept the stock rom. A few weeks ago I received the OTA update for our phones and now it appears my root access doesnt work anymore. Can someone tell me how to re-root or correct this issue because I would like to add a 4.1.1 Rom to my galaxy s3.

Hey Anthony, I have tmobile also…. I had rooted my phone and also kept stock rom.. only reason I rooted it is to get free wifi tether.. well tmobile made an update recently and me thinking my root would stick didnt.. so now my phone is unrooted and now the process of rooting it doesnt work.. any ideas?

I tried rooting my AT&T Samsung Infuse 4G using a similar method. On running ODIN, i got two com ports. One the COM4 and another one I forgot. Although the guide mentioned that only one com port will be shown on ODIN, I went ahead and rooted my Infuse. The rooting worked but the WiFi seemed to develop some issues and I was not able to connect to my home WiFi afterwards.
I will be getting my new AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 in a few days and needless to say, i will root the phone as soon as I get hold of it. But just wanted to make sure that I won’t loose the WiFi capability on my phone, eventhough I have an unlimited data plan. Any users experiencing WiFi issues or for that matter any issues after rooting the AT&T S3?

I have been using this method for a while now on my sprint gs3 and it works great! But I just got an Emil saying that an ota update is now available to upgrade to jellybean but I haven’t got it yet? could this be because I’m rooted? if so How can I fix this? Thanks!

OTA updates roll out in batches. Once your device exits the queue you’ll receive the notification as long as you’re running stock, rooted or not.

In order to install it, though, it’s highly recommended that you’re unrooted and running a stock ROM with stock recovery. There have been cases of people successfully installing the update while rooted and running CWM, but you’re better safe than sorry.

Hi Max i went through this process of rooting before using this method and everything worked fine, 2 weeks ago i unrooted my phone cause i was gonna gave it to someone but i ended up keeping the phone, now im trying to root it again but after i flashed the recovery in odin everything passed and was fine but when i used volume up power and home button it keeps booting into android recovery, how can i boot into cwm cause without that i cant flash superuser and get rooted. Thanks

How do i un-root the phone so i can update. I Have t-mobile and got a notification that an update is available. When i try to update, it rebotts then stalls on the CWM-based Recovery Screen with the following command lines:
CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4
E: Invalid command argument
finding update package…
opening update package…
verifying update package…
E: failed to verify whole-file signature
E: signature verification failed
Installation aborted.

I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that it’s sketchy to backup apps and restore them from ROM to ROM. I use Titanium Backup for all apps + system data…is that a bad idea?? If so, what should I do to continue to backup apps + system data that I update from ROM to ROM? Also, should I do nandroid backups of every ROM that I successfully flash before moving on to a new ROM? I’m currently running Cyanogenmod 10 M2 and LOVE IT!!!!

After rooting, I cant connect to my wifi anymore.. I tried the *#0011# trick but that didn’t work either… The whole rooting process went perfectly.. Any problem to this solution? I just got this S3 and it’s the AT&T one.

i took me a few attempts on a GS# that was formerly rooted. I had to delete all old root files and save the superuser profile to the externel SD card to install it while in CWM. it woudl not recognize the internal sd after the ODIN restart. Just a suggestiong if anyone has that issue. i am running the current L710VPL13 update. once i figeured that out it worked like a charm!!! Thank you for the pointers and the hard work you guys do!!!

I rooted my phone (bell galaxy s3) successfully. But I found some of my widgets do not work any more, like Samsung music play. Some widgets become invisible, like Jorte calendar, calendar 8 etc.
Any idea why and any fix?

Max – thanks so much! I was able to flash and root very quickly. I did run into the issue where stock Android Recovery kept happening, but after I installed ES File, and gave it root, I deleted the 2 files in the FAQ, but it didn’t work.

I still kept getting stock recovery, so I reflashed it using Odin, but not installing su, and when I turned the phone off, and went into recovery mode, I got CWR – so that was a way I found to get past losing Clockwork mode recovery. You end up having to flash it twice, but, it sticks after the second time.

I got Bell G3 and rooted smoothly according to your instructions. Thanks.
Everything worked fine untill yesterday that I got “not enough space” when installing or update apps from google. I knew I have tons of space in my phone. I tried to fix using “lucky patcher.apk”, but this app itself cannot install on my phone. I clearly remember I installed a bunch of apps after rooting.

I did root to my galaxy S3, then i hade to unroot to be able to install jelly bean, now i have jelly bean installed but i can root again, i tried this metod but it didnt work. now the Custom Binary sais 2. how can i root my gallaxy S3 with Jelly Bean and is it bad that Custom Binary has a number 2?

I”m installing the superuser.zip that comes in the folder, i copied to my phone as the video said, i also copied to the sd card, i tried to install as it said on the video, everything looks normal, i reboot but when it starts it doesnt show the superuser on the phone.

i have titanium already installed from the first root, but it only say waiting for root , but nothing happens, i also downloaded root checker, but it freezes.

I checked again, titanium freezes, i got superuser on my apps but it doesn’t detect any apps, bussybox doesn’t respond, root checker freezes too. the only way i see i might have root its because Google wallet says “Unsupported device” the same as the first root.

remember I’m using Android Jelly bean.
I first rooted, then unrooted, then installed jelly bean and here I’m, I can’t get it to work. Thanks

I want to thank you for posting such an easy turorial on rooting SG3 i7474 (Canadian). I’m a rooky coming from an iPhone, and rooting was a breeze! I have alredy installed Titanium backup and made a back up of all my apps and system files, but there are 2 things I would like to know: Should I delete the superuser.zip folder that is on my phone? and second, I would like to install Jellybean on my SG3 i747 (Canadian). Since I am not experienced with roms I don’t know which rom (Jellybean) would work well in my phone. Thank you.

no … keep the superuser.zip … you will need it to re-root after each stock/rom that you update or install, unless the rom already has root injected

there are MANY jb roms out there lol
you need to decide what you would like to try …

pure android (google/nexus) is much more bare and minimalistic than your samsung version … small, lightweight, blazing fast … and usually uptodate faster … 4.2 in some cases

touchwiz (samsung) android is very beautiful, but somewhat heavy (almost 7x the size of pure roms) … personally I LIKE touchwiz 😉 most touchwiz roms are currently at 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 … with samsung and carrier bloatware removed which makes them faster, smoother, than your current stock phone

1 – replace the stock recovery.img with the clockworkmod recovery.img
why? cuz the stock recovery was designed to allow nandroid backup/restore, wipe cache and dalvik cache, apply update.zip (firmware update) … BUT … it has no ability to run custom scripts .. which is what is needed to install roms, apps, perform specialized tasks, etc

the cwm recovery is a compiled version that DOES run custom scripts 🙂

2 – using your new cwm recovery, you run the custom script (packed into a zip) which simply installs the su binary into the correct system folder … and runs the superuser.apk which installs the superSu app 🙂

so … as you can see … this has nothing to do with your current rom … data … etc

if you flash a custom rom … which you will download just like the superuser.zip and run install zip from sd card in your cwm recovery … you will not have to repeat this entire procedure … because if you were able to install the rom … you HAVE cwm recovery 🙂 so after you install the rom, you simple run install zip from sd card AGAIN and point to the superuser.zip and inject root into your new rom 🙂

I see some comments about rooting AFTER Jelly Bean OTA update was sent — and this is what I am concerned about for the USA T-Mobile Galaxy S3 (T999) AFTER the OTA update, as the update removed (or appears to have removed) Root access.

So these questions are directed to root AFTER the OTA Jelly Bean update was sent (and re-rooting, as I am just trying to be clear), on or about Nov 16, 2012, in the USA (Michigan).

I am going to assume T-mobile DID NOT sent out the Jelly Bean OTA update all at once (so the exact dates my vary)

1) Any changes to re-root from the above excellent instructions?
2) If so, what are they (I realize you noted sometime after the above date your working it, if so, continue just wanted to leave this to confirm).
3) I did Notice the downloaded file, the ODIN verision has changed from the above screenshots, and Instructions. Odin version is no longer Odin 1.85, but rather Odin v3.04 (and some of the Colors are different when using Odin,
4) In odin the “F. Time” — should it be checked or not checked?

as in My reply to DJ above (nov 14), this method will always work for these devices

I don’t remember, but if the Odin setting is to reboot, I take that off because some stock rom versions re-apply stock recovery on boot

leave reboot off.. when Odin is done with PASS, do this:
unplug phone
pull the battery
put battery back in
hold volume UP, home button, and power button
when phone vibrates, release power button, but continue holding volume UP and home buttons
phone should now have booted into cwm recovery
now you can continue with the guide and install superuser.zip 🙂

Not so easy and I’m not a noob. Jail breaking my iPhone was much easier. I find android techies fail to realize the rest of the world does not eat, sleep and breath this stuff. That said I love android and will not go back to apple. I’ve owned every galaxy made and love Samsung.
Thanks for your hard work, but it’s not that simple.

so all i get is the recovery.img no .tar file provided. after extensive searching i cant seem to grasp creating a .tar file in windows, now i am researching ubuntu to create a .tar? all while sitting in download mode. smh. not exactly fool proof since no mention of this process was implied- or is it just me. time to help?

I have followed all steps, but there is no “RecoveryGalaxyS3USCanada.tar” as indicated in step 9. What do I do? Please help, I’m sitting in “downloading” mode with Odin3 running on computer. Don’t know what to do. Will I brick if I unplug?

Fantastic! Worked like a charm in my Galaxy S3 T999. I got it done in half an hour. The hardest part was getting into ClockworkMod Recovery (which kept getting overlaid by the Android stock recovery until I used your method of hitting Volume-Up and Home as the device rebooted after flashing CWM via Odin) but once I got that the rest was easy.

I have a T-Mobile Gs3 , I really wanna use google wallet like my wife on sprint with her Gs3, Sprint allows google wallet on there network. So if I just root my phone will I be allowed to see it in the play store and install? Or is there another method to get google wallet? Thanks in advance.

I rooted on stock, then unrooted to do OTA, then after OTA I did a full restore and rooted again and when I try to use rom toolbox, I do get a SU request, but then rom toolbox tells me it failed to get root access. Rom manager didn’t give me a notice that I didn’t have root, whic it did when I truly didn’t have root. So apparently it works. Wondering if maybe it is a problem with rom toolbox itself? Anybody else having issues like this?

Nvm. Apparently when I selected “GRANT” on the SU request it applied “DENY” instead. Went into SU and changed it manually. Wonder if it happened because my binary was outdated when I allowed the app root access.

if you are attempting to use the OTA update, you need to be on stock recovery and probably stock rom … because it will boot into recovery mode and attempt to run the update.zip that it downloaded.. which will only pass authentication in stock recovery

if you use kies instead to update, you need to be on stock rom. the recovery won’t matter cuz kies will boot into download (odin) mode and flash the entire stock rom (.tar) that it downloaded

in either case, you will lose root cuz it will overwrite the system partition, therefore removing the su binary

btw.. there are more recent versions of cwm recovery for this device on the xda forums.. cwm is now at 6.0.1.2 which uses a different kind of nandroid backup format and can do backup/restore as well as install zip from/to external sd card. not to mention there are also touch versions of cwm and twrp recoveries 🙂

Hello all,
If I understand correctly, CWM is used to get ROMs that function as a different OS. I like everything about the phone as it is, but i just need root access for a couple apps. I was wondering if I could somehow just install the superuser/root files without CWM? Please let me know, thanks.

it is this enhanced recovery that is used to install the superuser.zip file itself .. don’t unzip it, but look inside it from your zip software.. it has the su binary that goes into /system/xbin, it has the apk that contains the superSu app, and it has a script that puts the binary in the proper folder and installs the superSu from its apk as a system app

the only way you can get root without first installing the custom recovery is to use odin to install a stock rom that has root already injected into it … which I don’t think you want since you don’t seem to want any changes to your stock rom

I recommend you follow this guide by Max, and you will be rooted with custom recovery on stock rom in 5 minutes

if you are Canadian tho.. you may want to wait.. cuz we are all reverting to stock rom and/or recovery this weekend in preparation for Samsung’s promised jellybean 4.1 firmware update on Monday Dec 3 😉 lol

Steven,
Thanks for the quick and thorough reply. I’m in US with the AT&T s3, I will probably wait till next weekend anyway. It seems strange to me that the stock recovery is unable to install the zip file, and I feel like an app should be able to do that. It seems like this is the simplest way, though, so I’ll try it. Most likely my friend who has rooted before will end up doing it for me lol.
Thanks again

actually not strange at all
boot into stock recovery (volume up + home + power) and you will see that there is no install zip option.. closest is the one used by ota updates: install update.zip

Samsung didn’t build their recovery img to allow you to root, or install custom roms lol

it allows them to allow you to receive firmware updates over the air.. pretty nice, pretty cool.. end of story
recovery is not an app.. there is no os loaded while you are in it

however, by placing the recovery.img in its own partition they made it simple and harmless to use Odin mode to push a custom recovery.img over that partition … this is much better than on the older galaxy s2 which didn’t have that separation and made the process dangerous

you can’t hurt anything using this guide on the s3 .. just take it slow .. watch the video .. take each instruction one by one … 5 mins 🙂

personally, as a programmer, I consider so-called antivirus software are the problem themself. I discourage their use and encourage education in how things work, best way to prevent “infection”

and I seriously discourage giving these kind of apps root access!

as for the joystick app.. why the hell would it need root?!

root is for awesome apps like titanium backup and file explorers like es and root explorer and other KNOWN beneficial apps

be careful which apps you grant root access, and VERY careful which apps you grant continuous root access.. always run superSu after granting access and have it forget/deny permission to apps that aren’t known, proven safe

On the developer website, it says that the joystick app needs root in order to map touch actions to controller buttons/joysticks. I can use it with emulators just fine, but not regular android games. As for antivirus, just a precaution I guess, and I’ve always like avast on my desktop. This is my first smartphone (and therefore android) and I want to be extra careful. I even bought a triple armor case lol.

when you grant root acess to an app .. you are essentially stripping away the layer of security that prevents destructive/malicious things …

that triple armor case aint gonna help you if you have already opened the door, stocked the fridge and laid out a carpet of roses lol

if you dont know exactly why an app needs root … and what it will do with it … then you should research it, ask others that have used it, and/or ask the dev … (excuse Me dev, what commands will you be issuing, exactly, that require root access)

example … antivirus would be quarantining apps (freeze) or such … even system apps, which is stupid .. but an app like titanium has the ability to freeze an app while you test if that helps or not and titanium is used by miliions

you have been warned … lol

once you have root … get titanium backup … it is an awesome tool, even the free version, learn how to use it … I personally find the $6.50 for pro has already saved My ass and reduced My rebuild time a lot (after installing new rom, or recovering from a bad one)

Your advice sounds good, I’ll make sure to be careful which apps I grant root access.

The joystick app needs it because the phone won’t let it map touch actions to physical external buttons without root (according to developer’s website).

Avast needs it for firewall (according to the app), although I don’t think I really need active firewall on my phone – just something to scan it monthly/after I download something. This part will work without root.

I checked out Titanium Backup and it looks like it has a lot of useful features, will get that and learn it once I root. (It would be nice to remove the stupid AT&T copies of google/samsung apps, and backups are always useful – learned that the hard way on my desktop)

I heard that some Canada providers are releasing Jellybean, hope AT&T comes soon. Somehow, Sprint already has it lol.

yes, one of titanium’s many features is the ability to remove any app, even system apps, which it’s great for bloatware pruning

I just restored to stock to prep for the upgrade and used titanium (after re-rooting) to restore My user apps+data … one tap to restore all missing apps, another to de-select system apps, and one more tap to start the batch 🙂 you could restore the batch with free version too, if you don’t mind tapping ok 70x to confirm each app restore, lol

yes, Canadian i747m models are receiving update tonight, and the remaining Canadians on t999v model are supposed to get it tomorrow.. oooh it’s midnight.. today!! 😉

I was on a custom rom … I followed standard practice when switching roms to revert to stock:

I told titanium to backup all apps+ data
I booted into cwm recovery mode
normally I would do a nandroid backup, but there is no point since I’m going to get a baseband update
I wiped the cache partition and the dalvik cache partition
I did a factory reset which formats the cache, system and data partitions
then I told it to reboot.. while it booted I pressed volume down+ home so that it booted into download (Odin) mode
I plugged in and used Odin to flash the stock Samsung LH2 rom (1.5GB) .. 10 mins
then I used Odin to push cwm recovery back on
then I rebooted into recovery, which was cwm again, and re-rooted, and also installed My titanium.zip
then I booted normal

the phone was as if I had just bought it, almost

since it was empty except for stock Samsung bloatware.. yes .. I used titanium to restore My apps

altho there are important differences, each first install of a new rom is similar

PS: Why did Max take the battery out of the phone if he unchecked auto reboot? Wouldn’t it just turn off and not restart, letting you proceed with the next step? (Also I don’t remember him taking it out in the video.)

Hey Max, On behalf of the community (-as beneficiaries of all your hard work and dedication) I want to thank you for consistently being as professional and as comprehensively thorough and supportive as humanly possible! What would we do without ya?! (oh yeah BTW, this, (of course) works/ed flawlessly for me 🙂 I (AGAIN, as always, have ROOT!) Fear not NOOB’S, Just read (and read again) and follow the instructions! Cheers!

Hi Steve. Thanks for the reply. However since I am entirely new to this I am a bit confused. You stated: if you are attempting to use the OTA update, you need to be on stock recovery and probably stock rom … because it will boot into recovery mode and attempt to run the update.zip that it downloaded.. which will only pass authentication in stock recovery

if you use kies instead to update, you need to be on stock rom. the recovery won’t matter cuz kies will boot into download (odin) mode and flash the entire stock rom (.tar) that it downloaded”

I really don’t know what that means fully.
My galaxy S3 is currently rooted using your method. So when Jelly Bean becomes available, do I just use Kies to update WITHOUT unrooting? I get the sense from your message above that, that is what I can do, but am not sure. Don’t know what “need to be on stock rom” is. Can you clarify? Sorry to be such a total noob.

you are rooted using this guide here … by Max … which means you have custom recovery (cwm) and root
and you have not installed any custom roms? you are still on stock samsung ICS 4.0.4 ?
what is your baseband (settings, about device) ?

lol … shouldnt need luck … just time
the ota is quicker, cuz its just an update
the kies version is better cuz it is (hopefully) the whole boot.img, recovery.img, modems, and entire system folder … could take as much as 30-45 mins to finish

it will download the update/rom … 2-20 mins
then it will de-compress the download and verify the md5 signature .. .1-10 mins

then it will boot phone into download (odin) mode and flash the tar.md5 … 1-10 mins

No. No trouble connecting with Kies. I went to the xda site but couldn’t find the latest CWM version you mentioned. On the other hand I just want a simple root for now and am content with the method above. I wouldn’t know how to install a custom rom anyway.

suit yourself.. as soon as My baseband is upgraded to jb 4.1+ I’m going to try Wicked 2.1 rom … all custom jb roms I’ve tried have the smoothness of jb project butter, no bloatware and tweaked kernels .. faster, smoother and with battery life of 26+ hours on 1.5 hours talk time and 3+ hours screen time 🙂

My Canadian Galaxy S3 rooted using this guide. I just updated to Jelly Bean through Kies without unroot. After 2 hours, update was successfully and everything worked. I guess I need to reroot it but not sure if the same guide will work on jelly bean.

Thanks, Seven. I will try later.
Just curious, I found my “Root Exploer” and “root Browser” apps are still ok to browse system folders. How come? Other root apps will say “the device is not rooted yet” kind of message.
Is that weird ?

as I mentioned above, to allan I believe, ota will not work if you are on a custom (cwm) recovery … kies will work

I returned to stock rom … then re-rooted (yes, THIS guide will ALWAYS work for our device) immediately altho with an updated version of cwm … I prefer the touch recovery 😀

but they have not pushed the update for My model yet … T999V … so I’m still on stock ics 4.0.4 … waiting

I’m not sure how long I can take it tho LOL … ics is crap compared to the buttery goodness of jellybean 4.1.1 which I was on with My custom rom … was using FreeGS3 R7 and XquiziT xD 40
most custom roms bring gapps from 4.2 in .. so I was already using the awesome panorama mode in the camera and all the other cool things like expandable notifications … and I miss them already!!

For me, I have to unroot it, use ‘http://galaxys3root.com/galaxy-s3-unroot/how-to-unroot-canadian-galaxy-s3-sgh-i747m-stock-roms/’ to unroot first, click on update software on the phone after unroot, if you haven’t update for while, there’s two update in total, when you see the 300+ MB update, that’s Jellybean. Good luck.

have you installed any custom roms? or you are still on stock samsung ics 4.0.4 ?

if you are on stock, the ONLY reason to un-root is to be able to use OTA updates directly from your phone … which, in My opinion, is not a good reason lol

if you use kies … you can update without un-root or any change …
it willl overwrite system and recovery, so you will lose cwm recovery and root (su) … after the kies update, simply re-use this guide and 5 mins later you will have cwm recovery and root back 🙂

I rooted my Canadian Galaxy S3 ICS, then updated to Jelly Bean last night without unroot. Today I rooted it again with the same instruction. I installed superuser, also Rom manager V5.0.2.7. But when I tried to BACKUP CURRENT ROM using Rom Manager, it always asks “you must have ClockworkMod Recovery installed before continuing…”, when I click on INSTALL, it asks me to confirm phone model. But I don’t see my model of Galaxy S3 in the list, only Galaxy S3 (MetroPCS) there. what should I do or can I pick that model?

rom manager is Not useful to canadian devices (not to any devices, imho lol)
altho clockworkmod et al are great devs … their recovery is great and so is their rom CM 10, but rom manager is really just for noobs but more confusing than it is useful … not to mention that it doesnt recognize any canadian devices .. ie it recognizes att i747 but not i747m, recognizes tmobile t999 but not t999v

what is it that you are trying to use rom manager to do ? cuz everything it can do, you can do yourself

if you say backup current rom … it is simply sending adb commands to the phone to reboot into recovery and do a nandroid backup … so if thats what you want to do … boot into cwm recovery, choose backup … then either backup to sd card or backup to external sd card … and it will backup your entire phone (nandroid) into a folder clockworkmod/backup

I highly recommend you learn how to do what it is that you want to do … and do these operations yourself, rather than try to use an app

setup your phone (on stock jb 4.1.1) as you like it
then boot into (cwm) recovery and use the backup option (preferably to external sd card)
this will make a nandroid backup … boot.img, recovery.img, plus entire system, data and cache partitions … it will take 5-10 minutes

immediately after that … restore the backup …
if it completes successfully, you know it is a good backup
leave that backup on the sd card and never delete it !
you may copy it to your pc or dropbox, etc if you like … but leave the original where it is

now … if you screw something up … or install a rom you dont like .. or you just feel like it … you can restore that nandroid backup and revert to exactly where you are at the moment you made it

titanium backup is awesome … but it backs up apps … user apps+data, system apps+data … not the entire phone … it comes in very handy after installing roms and bringing all your user apps back WITH their data … or … when an app jams and you have to clear its data … you can restore JUST that app’s data (to the point of the backup) or if you do a factory reset to wipe problematic settings titanium will let you restore all missing apps … be careful tho … dont restore system apps into different version roms

I also recommend you use titanium to export your wifi settings to xml after each new wifi ap that you add … so that you can import these settings after factory reset, or into new roms

apn backup & restore (free in play store) can be very handy …. you use it to backup your current apn’s (access points for mobile data) … and if you install custom american carrier roms … they will wipe out your apn’s in favour of american ones … which means you will have no data access (4g) … simply restore your saved apn’s and voila … data! 😀

Hello! I have i747M Canadian and today we finally got jellybean 4.1.1 The problem is that google now does not talk. I have set language to US English, media volume up, speech output – always speak and nothing seems to work. It shows the information that I request even the images. All is fine! Except no voice. I have done everything people say on the android forums for google now. The only thing I did after the update was that I rooted back. Please help!

After I rooted Jelly Bean a few days ago, I found “software update” in “about device” cannot get update any more. It gives me this message “Your device has been modified. Software updates are not available”.

it seems samsung, or your (and other) carrier, has updated their flash counter and status checking modules … now the flash counter gets tripped when a custom kernel or recovery is loaded … these, and other things, are also changing the status to modified also.

root itself is prolly not the cause … most prolly it is when you booted into custom (cwm) recovery to install root zip that it tripped the counter, and possibly the status … altho the status could also be based on if you removed certain stock bloatware

is it possible ota’s wont be available as long as it says modified? yes
do you really want ota (update only) instead of full kies/odin firmware? not really
the only thing you really lose is that it wont check for you if there is an update available … however there are multiple ways to do that … either thru one of the many firmware sites … or thru apps like Check Fus

if it really matters, you can take a look into using Triangle Away and/or other options mentioned on the xda forums for resetting the counter and/or status

some people on xda have reported that once their status says “modified”, samsung-specific apps fail to play DRM content (movies, music) etc … if you have that issue also, check the forums … you may need to keep resetting counter/status for those to work until a workaround/fix is developed

Thanks for the well layed out guide. followed step by step and all went well. Was a bit nerveous rooting an android because i had just recently come from iOS were its fool-proof to jailbreak.
Going to have much fun screwin’ around with this OS now. Thanks!!

Q: I keep getting stock Android recovery instead of ClockworkMod Recovery!
A: After rooting, erase /system/recovery-from-boot.p and /system/etc/install-recovery.sh using ES File Explorer with Root and Write enabled. That will make CWM stick. This is due to newer software versions overwriting your stock recovery on reboot…………..NEED A DETAILED STEP BY STEP ON HOW TO DO THIS….THANKS

like it says.. using ES File Explorer (download the app from play store) with root and write enabled (turn on root settings in the app, and enable write permission (mount /system writable)).. what’s the problem?

I have the SuperSU app but I cant get into CWM (I tried pushing home/volume up/power button) and I downloaded a root validator app, it says root access works, but it says busybox binary not found and busybox applets unavailable, any ideas?

I followed your instructions and it worked great on my Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-I747M. However, my problem is that it installed ClockWorkMod 5.5.0.4 and I am trying to install Cyanogenmod 10. I get an error during the install of the ROM and everybody is telling me I need a newer version of ClockWorkMod, 5.8+ I believe, but nobody is telling me how to update it. They say use ROM Manager but its useless. How can I get ClockWorkMod updated after following this guide?

Never mind. I solved my own issue for once. For those wondering, all I did was download the latest image file of ClockWorkMod (6.0.1.2 at time of posting) and copy the recovery.img file to the root of the internal SD card. I then used the Android Terminal Emulator to complete these commands,

Hello everyone, im wondering has anyone confirmed if this root guide
will work for MetroPcs samsung galaxy S3 sch-r530?
I see that the U.S cellular samsung galaxy s3 IS the same model as metropcs. There both sch-r530
Thanks anyone who will help me on this

hey dude. i followed all your steps and everything seemed to go just fine. but when it finishes it does not install superusre. i had my samsung gs 3 rooted before and then i updated it. so it removed my root. now that im trying to re root its just not working. any ideas?

This worked for my att i747 with 4.1 but the google store doesn’t work. It says “Enable background date or quit”. I enable the data but then the app goes to a gray screen. Cant download titanium backup because of it obviously.

if you are using a custom recovery like cwm or twrp, then your phone IS modified.

consider it a service to consumers…
if you were allowed to update, and you did accept an OTA update, it would fail, crash and burn when you attempt to install it (update.zip) because the OTA updates are built, and signed, to run in stock recovery

I think the recovery is Outdated… It every time I tried to flash a rom it gave me Error 7 Installation Aborted… I didnt know what it was, I was coming from 4.1.1 and the only way i got it to work was flashing the latest CWM from the Rom manager App…

considering this article was written in july when cwm was at 5.5, yeah its outdated lol
you can easily get the latest cwm (6.0.1.2) on the xda forums, including a ‘touch’ version
personally, I prefer twrp, also available on xda or via goo manager

you can verify that you have full root by downloading root apps like Titanium Backup app and opening it, you should see “Superuser request” window pop up.
SuperSU is in apps, and in Settings. Superuser is enabled, but I did not see the “Superuser request” window pop up when i downloaded titanium backup… am I rooted?

su permission is not requested simply by downloading an app.. it occurs when the app attempts to invoke a su shell or issue a command requiring permission

also, if titanium had already been given permission by previous use of su, and you left the default of Allow for that app … superSu would/will not ask for permission again until the app changes version (assuming you have that setting on)

if you run titanium, it will only work if root permission is granted
and it will tell you whether root is active or not on the main (Overview) screen

This site is full of bullshit information…everything seems to only work for the site owner minus the international folks. ANy Mac users, beware that these methods only work in the videos. On several occassions i’ve tried these methods and I’m constantly referenced back to another video that leads to a dud process. The site owner only answers troubleshooting questions that he actually has answers for and leaves everyone else in the dark if they’re having trouble.

Please don’t use this site and tell the site owner to go fuck himself for wasting our time. “GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!”

thousands of usa and canadian S3 owners have used this site successfully, and reported about it … but I guess you dont know how to read, nor follow instructions

this is for pc only … there is even a link in the beginning for mac users … cuz DUH, you cant use windows applications nor methods on a crapple! cant distinguish between download links, advertising links, and wiki info? yep … must be a mac user … I hear the iphony is on sale, fanboy… might be better for you…. nice and purty… .simple enough that even grandma can use it…. see spot run … you can even jailbreak it in a single paid one-step-for-dummies operation

Seriously bro no need for such hatred, this method has worked for me and thousands upon thousands of other people so obviously it’s just you. Clearly MAC’s operate differently and this method is not meant for MAC’s he even says that if you read the description. Anyway Have a good one try not to hate so much.

Any update on which files we have to delete in order to prevent the samsung recovery from coming up? Also besides clockworkmod recovery I heard about Torque Recovery? I think that’s it. Is that more stable that clockworkmod, any opinions between the two?
Thanks for you help man, I have used your methods for two of my phones and each time your videos are spot on with what to do. Don’t listen to the hater above. Keep up the good work.

those two files are responsible for reverting to stock recovery after reboot.
so by the time you used your root ability to delete/rename them, they had already put you back to stock recovery.

all you have to do is repeat the process of using Odin to put cwm back onto the phone.
you shouldn’t have to repeat installing the superuser.zip, but it doesn’t hurt to do so

this time when you reboot, those two scripts won’t be able to run since you deleted/renamed them.. so cwm will stay as your recovery 🙂

basically, especially after the jb 4.1.1 update, you have to do the process in this guide twice …
– first time gets you root but lose cwm after boot ..
– you use root to disable the scripts that revert to stock recovery ..
– then repeat the process to put cwm back as custom recovery

Hi on step 7 after I have put the zipped folder on my phone I put it in download mode but it says that there is no custom binary download. I have tried 4-5 rooting videos and I can never get passed this spot if anybody has anyway of helping that would be great and I am not going to pay for a rooting. Also in download mode my GS3 SGH-I747M will not appear on my computer only when it’s out of download mode.

Hi
I am Dani
I have samsung SGH i747 and i downloaded your root and i sucessfully insalled and Clockwhile workMod Recovery also then it ill work fine .. after a while i thoght to take a back up then i ill press the volume up power and center it will switch off then never switch on ?pls help me
Thanks in advance

Hi Max
I’ve use the. root method above I’m successfully rooted
But on problem after installing SuperSu booted up
Everything was fine until i was seeing if i had Clock Work Mod
I didnt
What I’ve seen was the Android with his stomach open
The triangle was red I simply held volume up- center button ( home )
power thats when I seen the Android with his stomach
Open need help Max please or call 239 400 0550

What shall I do Unroot: Need unroot method to follow
Max could you help me please send me an e-mail
Or if its ok you can call 239-400-0550
Or if someone see this they can help
Thanks Max

Max, I plan on flashing my sprint s3 to straight talk after I root it. Will rooting have any affect on my flash or will I have any issues loading different roms? Also, not sure if its my connection but I get “video not found” when trying to play the rooting tutorial.

Your tutiorials have been a life saver and I’ve spread the word! Thanks a ton!

SG3 AT&T. Used your guide successfully to root. Thank you. However I cannot make CWM stick. It always comes back to stock boot. I removed the two /system files you suggested but upon reboot I am right back to stock android boot. Any thoughts?

I used the step Stephen suggested on January 1st. After deleting the two system files and flashing with CWM a second time I can now successfully boot in CWM and not the standard android boot….thanks to you again for this great site!!!!

I am not getting the green PASS from ODIN. It is hanging up on recovery.img
ODIN com is:
“0:[COM5]”
ODIN log is:
Added!!
Odin v.3 engine (ID:5)..
File analysis..
SetupConnection..
Initialzation..
Get PIT for mapping..
Firmware update start..
recovery.img
My phone is on the “Downloading…Do not turn off target!!” screen.
Is it safe to unplug the device? Any help is appreciated.

Heya! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any
problems with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended
up losing several weeks of hard work due to no data backup.
Do you have any methods to stop hackers?

Great video and very thorough instructions.
I was able to root my T-mobile S3 on my first try. I did find that after rooting, I was unable to check for software update for my phone. It popped up with an error message: “Your device has been modified. Software updates are not available.” My phone is currently on 4.1.1. I won’t worry about update until T-mobile releases 4.2. Even then, I may still be able to update via Kies instead of OTA.

Also I found CWM did not stick so I will have to remove those system files you mentioned in the FAQ.

Hey, I realize this is old, but I wanted to add this because I had issues and it was driving me nuts. Check your date and time. My phone thought it was a year ago (before I got the phone) and when I reset it, it worked!

Hi, I got to the point where I should see the yellow box. Apparently, I didn’t have Kies on my win7 pc so I downloaded it and installed it. I didn’t open it. When I unplugged my phone then plugged it back in, the yellow box still didn’t appear. What am I doing wrong?

My phone is in purgatory right now with the “downloading…..do not turn off target!!” screen. What can I do?

Nevermind. My pc just wasn’t seeing my phone. If you don’t have kies on your computer and have to dl and install it, RUN IT FIRST before attempting to follow any of these instructions. Once I installed and ran Kies and synced everything up with my phone, it worked fine. Just shut down Kies, restart your phone, and then follow these instructions from the beginning. Took 2 minutes to root my phone once I did this. Now running CM10 and I love it. Looks and feels just like my girlfriend’s Nexus 7.

i had to reroot my phone cause it got stuck in a bootloop , so after i did rom manager wont flash clockwork and every time i try installing cm nighlties it says installation aborted status 7 can u help me out man?

I’ve been trying to root my US Cellular GS3 for the last 30 minutes. I’ve done everything exactly like the video, but when it comes to holding down the volume down, home key, and power key, mine does not do what the phone on the video does. I don’t know what to do.

So I rooted my phone and It worked great thanks. When I try to install CM10 it always fails saying
Assert failed get prop
Status 7
What am I doing wrong? Do I need a newer CWM version for my phone?
I have a I747m I live in Canada and am with Bell.
Thanks

Hey this works great and I rooted my at&t sgh-i747 with android 4.1.1 and even backed up the rom but with ES file Exploerer I can’t seem to find the two files you listed. I’m looking under system but they don’t seem to be there anywhere. I also have root and write enabled on ES file Exploerer.

He need to update the Links , Every time that i keep trying to download the (GalaxyS3RootUSCanada.zip) It keeps taking me to the (download Zip file extract) not the actual zip. Please email me the zip Link. Thank you

I’ve tried several times with both CF-Auto Root and the process mentioned here (CWM install and SuperUser copied to the internal drive and flashed). However, I cannot root. 🙁 Pls. help. Any help is appreciated.
SGH-I747
i747UCDLK3
Android 4.1.1
On the Download Mode, QUACOMM SECURED BOOTLOADER: ENABLE. Does this make any difference?

Awesome! I can tell you everything worked perfectly! Thank You! Originally bought as a Wind Mobile GS3 t999v, closed account with them, had my existing Telus number transferred to the GS3 then updated to JB 4.1 via ota. Followed your guide and phone is rooted perfectly with no glitches whatsoever. All is well… now, where did I see that donate button on this site.. hmm….

Hi just a quick question. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 on Sasktel carrier (Canadian) model number SGH-I747M and i just followed this video and successfully rooted my phone but i cannot get to the CWM recovery to back up my phone. I have deleted the two files in the /system/ and im still rebooting onto the stock android. So im wondering is how do i boot onto CWM Recovery and if its okay if i went through this video again (Did all the same steps) even though i have a rooted phone just so i can use CWM recovery to back up and flash a custom ROM without bricking my phone. Biggest question is if i were to Install SuperRoot and use odin to get to CWM recovery could it potentially brick my phone?
Any help is appreciated, thanks.

when I use odin to falsh cwm it says passed. I removed the battery and tried to boot into CWM but it keeps going back to stock recv. and the flash counter says 11. What happened? Just remembered I was running 4.0.4 and did an AT&T ota update. What has happened?

I know it will root it. I just didn’t want it to be visible in the flash counter of phone.
I know there’s and app for it Triangle away, but on previous version of JB I had root which wasn’t showed in counter. So I was wondering if there is some also for 4.1.2.
I guess it’s not being made anymore since everyone counts with Triangle away.

Okay guys here is the deal. I dont have a pc, so im using a pc at the local public library, and there are of course user restrictions on these pc’s. So I will be using a flash drive. However if the pc will not let me transfer my the recovery file to my phone, I was wondering, if I download the file directly with my sgh t999, and continue as normal, do u think this a plausible solution, and u dont know, if continued as if it were, and it did not work, what would I be left with

If you can’t follow these simpe steps and root the phone, it is crazy. I did it in 3mins. It took me 10mins because the button combo to get into recovery can be tricky. My suggestion is to hold down all three buttons, and AS SOON AS it vibrates, let go of Power, but take your fingers on Vol Ip and Home. It will go in to CWM

Again, this makes rooting a piece of cake, comapred to Motorolas and HTCs

Rooted my phone, have root access but no cwm. Tired using above mentioned method to erase /system/recovery-from-boot.p and /system/etc/install-recovery.sh using ES File Explorer. I have Root and Write enabled but system is still no visible. Literally tried everything and Im stuck. Cant even Unroot odin is stuck on setup connection. What can I do now?

if you have root, then you have CWM, because using this method roots the phone while installing CWM at the same time…your button process are probably wrong. are you seeing the regular recovery mode screen? if so, take out the battery, and hold down all three buttons….as SOON as it vibrates, let go of power, and it should be teal text…if not, go back into download mode and reflash the PDA file in odin…trust me it works

I followed all steps (T-Mobile) but when I go 2 instal the CW..zip file I dont have an option 4 install from internal sd/storage but it did say external, so I copied file there also, go 2 install & get an error that says “E-Signature verification fail”… can u help me… yes I’m a noob!

did you use Odin to flash the tar file?
if you did, then it sounds like you rebooted the phone from download mode into normal mode instead of recovery mode.. in which case those two files mentioned above would have reverted your recovery to stock

follow the instructions exactly, in order
watch the video
if you have a prob or make a mistake, start again
the entire process should only take 5-10 minutes

use two hands if necessary
download mode = volume down + home + power
recovery mode = volume up + home + power

I got the same error, the only option to get the Recovery mode it’s installing the ROM before reboot the phone, once I get a different ROM I can change to another ROM or get the recovery menu, but if I want to restore my previous ( original ROM/SW ) I’m not able to get to the Recovery menu again, but I think the cell ph is still rooted, because I can open the rooted apps like titanium, goo manager, ROM manager, SU, etc… but even if I try to flash any ROM from any of thess APPs I wont get the recovery menu when it rebooted, can you take a look?
Thanks in advance.

Sorry Steve, but I couldn’t find those files that you’re talking about, I double red the instructions and didn’t see the name of those files. Also on the video says that it will be a new video for delete those files, couldn’t find the video either. Do you have the name of those files? or the video link?
My ph model is SGH-T999 (TMO carrier)
Thanks!